As we all move gleefully toward the inevitable World Sake Domination era, there are a handful of words that it would behoove us all to remember. And in truth, it is not all that hard to learn a few words outside our native language; it can be fun, and people do it all the time for other beverages and areas of interest.
So here are a handful of words you will see popping up again and again in the ever-increasing coverage about sake. Let’s keep it fairly simple: three sets of three words: must know, should know, and helps to know.
“Must know” words:
1. Kura: Sake is brewed in a kura. Sure, we could use the word brewery, but the sake brewing 
process is different enough from the beer brewing process to justify it’s own word. Winery and distillery certainly do not apply, and while factory may apply in some cases, the term in Japanese is kura. The word sakery is a silly abomination. Note that this word (kura) can have other meanings (albeit with different characters, such as storehouse), and when it is necessary to differentiate a sake kura from another type of kura, the word sake and kura are put together, at which time the e sound of sake becomes an a: sakagura. Kura and sakagura can be used interchangeably.
2. Toji: A master-brewer. Behind every good sake is a good toji. The history, cultural lore, and stories of toji and their guilds can fill books and long discussions (while sipping sake). More artists and craftsmen/craftswomen than technicians, toji meld experience and intuition to guide and coax koji, yeast and rice into subtle and complex manifestations. Really, the importance of having a good toji at the reigns cannot be over-emphasized.
3. Seimai-buai (pronounced “say my boo eye”): The milling rate of rice, i.e. how much the rice has been milled before brewing. In general, the more the rice has been milled, the better the sake. Well… technically anyway. Preferences skew that assessment.
Note, the number is a bit counter-intuitive in that it expresses how much remains after milling, NOT how much was milled away. (It’s just the way the math works in the definition; no conspiracy here.) So a sake made with a rice that has a seimai buai of 45% means that the outer 55% was milled away before brewing, leaving the inner 45% behind. This is well worth remembering.
“Should know” words:
1. Kurabito: A brewer, one that works under a toji in a kura. The word literally means “person of the brewery.”
2. Koku: A traditional unit of sake equaling 180 liters. Why is this important? Because although 
all kura will communicate with the government in liters and kiloliters, they speak to everyone else in koku. A very small kura, of which there are hundreds and hundreds, might make 700 to a thousand koku a year. I myself cannot assess things in kiloliters; when I look around a brewery, and count the number of kurabito, and ask how much they brew in a year, if the number comes back in kiloliters, I need to translate that into koku to get a feel for the numbers. Note, one koku equals exactly 100 of those large 1.8 liter bottles. Also, although it is the stuff of another article, originally a koku was a unit of rice used as payment and tax in Japan’s feudal days.
3. Nihonshu: the word “sake” in Japanese can refer to all alcoholic beverages as well as the rice-based brew we all know and love. When it is necessary to differentiate, the word nihonshu is used. As a bonus, the word “seishu” is the word used for sake in official legal definitions. So: sake = nihonshu = seishu.
“Helps to know” words:
1. Kuramoto: A nebulous term that can refer to either the company owning a kura, or the president of that company. Useful when talking about the people behind a particular kura, like their personality, philosophy of brewing, or their history.
2. Nihonshu-do: The specific gravity of a sake, also known as the SMV (Sake Meter Value) in English. Usually between -4 and +12, it vaguely indicates the sweetness or dryness of sake. Very vaguely. Like, really very vaguely. Just remember: Higher is dryer. It is very commonly seen on sake labels these days, either as Nihonshu-do or SMV.
3. Nama: Nama means raw, or unprocessed, or that nothing has been done to the thing in 
question. When dealing with sake, nama means unpasteurized. More formally, the term nama-zake means unpasteurized sake. Note, way over 99% of all sake has been pasteurized. Nama-zake is not better than pasteurized sake, just a bit different. Also, nama must be kept refrigerated or its chances of spoiling are high. Not guaranteed; just high. As such, very little namazake gets out of Japan, as it is hard to care for and ensure that no one along a distribution channel mishandles it.
And there you have it. Three sets of three Japanese words that help make the sake world unique, easier to understand, and more enjoyable. As sake becomes more popular and appreciated, it will need a self-supporting culture and presence surrounding it, and these few words will contribute to that.
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At what temperature should you enjoy sake?
In part, the toji system came about with a little help from the government. In 1798 the Shogunate formalized an economic system based on rice. In order to establish tight control, the government decreed that no sake brewing was permitted before the Autumn Equinox. Although not much could be done in the warmer seasons anyway, sake brewers now had to go into the boonies to get the farmers who found themselves with too much free time in the winter.
The various toji schools are usually centered in the snowy regions of Japan, like the northern Tohoku region and Hokuriku region. Although the dekasegi system of travelling far from home for seasonal work was never limited to the sake brewing industry, the pay and status of sake laborers was always relatively higher than other seasonal labor jobs. In general, the competition for jobs in the sake industry has thus been more intense than in other industries employing dekasegi laborers. For more on toji schools, click here.
Next, toji check the status of the various tanks of fermenting sake mash. This mash, called moromi in Japanese, is a mixture of koji, rice, water, and yeast. The mash must undergo fermentation to yield alcohol, and the typical fermentation period lasts two to three weeks. However, premium ginjo-shu sake takes longer (usually one month) to ferment.
eyes to judge the condition of the mash. He looks at the foam on the surface of the moromi, how much carbon dioxide is emanating from it, the amount and appearance of the foam, and even the sound of the foam as it churns and bubbles pop. The toji call this “talking to the moromi.” It ‘s like judging a baby’s health by listening to the baby’s crying. Then, based on this information, adjustments are made.
After checking on the moromi and koji, the toji eat breakfast. Following that, preparations are made for the sake that will be brewed that day. This includes washing rice, steaming large amounts of rice, cooling the rice after steaming, adding it to the correct fermenting tanks, and making koji.
Note the white opaque starch packet in the center of many of the grains.
Next, the white powder (called nuka) left on the rice after polishing is washed away, as this makes a significant difference in the final quality of the steamed rice. (It also affects the flavor of table rice; try washing your rice very thoroughly and notice the difference in consistency and flavor.) Following that, it is soaked to attain a certain water content deemed optimum for steaming that particular rice. The degree to which the rice has been milled in the previous step determines what its pre-steaming water content should be. The more a rice has been polished, the faster it absorbs water and the shorter the soaking time. Often it is done for as little as a stopwatch-measured minute, sometimes it is done overnight.
and brought to a boil; rather, steam is brought up through the bottom of the steaming vat (traditionally called a koshiki) to work its way through the rice. This gives a firmer consistency and slightly harder outside surface and softer center. Generally, a batch of steamed rice is divided up, with some going to have koji mold sprinkled over it, and some going directly to the fermentation vat. (Photo at left: rice steaming in koshiki, or vat).
This is the heart of the entire brewing process, really, and could have several chapters, if not books, written about it. Summarizing, k(LEFT) Koji being cultivated in small trays (Right) A grain of rice cultavated with koji mold (photos by Kenji Nachi)oji mold in the form of a dark, fine powder is sprinkled on steamed rice that has been cooled. It is then taken to a special room within which a higher than average humidity and temperature are maintained. Over the next 36 to 45 hours, the developing koji is checked, mixed and re-arranged constantly. The final product looks like rice grains with a slight frosting on them, and smells faintly of sweet chestnuts. Koji is used at least four times throughout the process, and is always made fresh and used immediately. Therefore, any one batch goes through the “heart of the process” at least four times. (Photo: Koji being cultivated in small trays, and a grain of rice cultavated with koji mold).
Photo at right: the moto, or shubo yeast starter, foaming away.
When everything is just right (no easy decision!), the sake is pressed. Through one of several methods, the white lees (called kasu) and unfermented solids are pressed away, and the clear sake runs off. This is most often done by machine, although the older methods involving putting the moromi in canvas bags and squeezing the fresh sake out, or letting the sake drip out of the bags, are still used. (Photo at right: bags of moromi from which sake is being drip-pressed. Below Photo: a fune, used for pressing sake out of bags of moromi).
Most sake is then pasteurized once. This is done by heating it quickly by passing it through a pipe immersed in hot water. This process kills off bacteria and deactivates enzymes that would likely adverse flavor and color later on. Sake that is not pasteurized is called namazake, and maintains a certain freshness of flavor, although it must be kept refrigerated to protect it.